On The Fly: Top stock stories at middayStocks on Wall Street were slightly higher at midday in the first trading day of a week that will be light on domestic economic data but heavy on earnings reports. Investors will be receiving profit reports from about 25% of the companies on the S&P 500 this week, making this the highest volume earnings week of this season. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., no major data was released. In Europe, Greece reopened its banks three weeks after closing as the country worked out another bailout agreement. The country announced it has started the process of paying off its creditors, including the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, with a bridge loan it just received. COMPANY NEWS: Lockheed Martin (LMT) agreed to buy the Sikorsky Aircraft business from United Technologies (UTX) for $9B, noting the price is "effectively reduced" to $7.1B after taking into account tax benefits resulting from the transaction. Shares of Lockheed, which also reported better than expected second quarter results and increased its fiscal year guidance, gained nearly 2% after the Sikorsky announcement and saying it will conduct a strategic review of its government IT infrastructure services business and technical services business... Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) shares were little changed near noon after the bank reported earnings and revenue, excluding certain adjustments, that topped analysts' consensus forecasts... SunEdison (SUNE) announced a deal to acquire Vivint Solar (VSLR) for approximately $2.2B, payable in a combination of cash, shares of SunEdison common stock and SunEdison convertible notes. In connection with the proposed acquisition of Vivint Solar, SunEdison has entered into a definitive purchase agreement with a subsidiary of TerraForm Power (TERP) which, concurrently with the completion of SunEdison's acquisition of Vivint, will acquire Vivint Solar's rooftop solar portfolio, consisting of 523 MW expected to be installed by year-end 2015, for $922M in cash. Shares of Vivint rose 44% following the announcement, while SunEdison's stock gained 4% and TerraForm dropped 3%. Fellow residential solar installer SolarCity (SCTY), which is backed by Tesla's (TSLA) Elon Musk, rose 7% following the deal in the space. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Exelixis (EXEL), which rallied 43% after the company reported that a study of cabozantinib in metastatic renal cell carcinoma met its primary endpoint of significant improvement in progression-free survival. The shares were indicated to rise even more in early pre-market trading, but lost some of their gains after Bristol-Myers (BMY) announced that its Opdivo study was stopped early after showing superior overall survival in a Phase 3 study of previously treated patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Bristol-Myers rose a bit less than 1% to trade near $70 per share after its own announcement. Also higher was PayPal (PYPL), which gained more than 5.5% in its first day of trading after being spun out of eBay (EBAY). Meanwhile, eBay shares rose over 2%. Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) dropped 8% after posting lower than expected sales and profits in its fourth quarter and warning that while it should have an adequate supply of its primary feed ingredients, the company expects that prices will be "volatile" in the year ahead. Also lower were shares of several gold miners, including Barrick Gold (ABX) and Newmont Mining (NEM), which each fell about 11%, as gold prices declined about 2% near midday. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 31.66, or 0.18%, to 18,118.11, the Nasdaq was up 9.81, or 0.19%, to 5,219.96, and the S&P 500 was up 2.82, or 0.13%, to 2,129.46.

Analyst predicts Zoetis merges with Bayer unit, not ValeantZoetis (ZTS) in recent months has been the subject of takeover speculation, possibly for Valeant (VRX), but a Jefferies analyst told investors today in a research note that he views a deal with a unit of healthcare giant Bayer (BAYRY) as "highly likely" for the animal medicine company. BACKGROUND: Bill Ackman of Pershing Square, who owns stakes in both Zoetis and Valeant, said in early May while speaking on CNBC that Zoetis is a "great” business on a standalone basis, but he also spoke of the company's strategic value. Ackman added, however, that he was "not sure" that Valeant was the best acquirer of Zoetis. Subsequently, in late June, The Wall Street Journal reported that Valeant made a preliminary approach regarding a potential deal to buy Zoetis. CNBC's David Faber said the next day, citing his own sources, that Valeant reached out to Zoetis as a courtesy to common shareholder Ackman and was unlikely to pursue an acquisition of the company, though he cautioned then Valeant could change its approach and pursue a deal. BAYER: Jefferies analyst Jeffrey Holford said in a note today that he views a tie-up between Zoetis and Bayer's Animal Health business in 2016 as "highly likely." He sees Mylan's (MYL) acquisition of Abbott's (ABT) non‑U.S. developed markets specialty and branded generics business as a potential proxy for how a transaction could be structured, adding that such a "spinversion" could achieve up to 36% long-term earnings accretion for Zoetis. Holford reiterated a Buy rating on Zoetis with a $60 price target, while downgrading Bayer to Hold, citing valuation following the recent outperformance of its shares. IDEXX: While being discussed as a target, some analysts have also opined on companies that Zoetis could pursue as a buyer. On June 29, Canaccord said that in investor meetings with IDEXX (IDXX) executives declined to comment on Zoetis' potential interest in scaling up its animal health diagnostics business. Canaccord added that it thought Zoetis could make a bid for IDEXX. The firm reiterated its Buy rating and $80 price target on IDEXX shares at that time. PRICE ACTION: Since June 25, the day the Journal first reported on Valeant's preliminary takeover approach to Zoetis, the animal health company's shares have dropped nearly 4%. Zoetis closed down 20c to $47.80 on Friday.

Amazon.com upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at CowenCowen analyst John Blackledge upgraded Amazon.com to Outperform based on expectations the company will be number 1 U.S. apparel retailer by 2017, driven by accelerating purchasing growth. Growth is being driven by a much larger selection, ramping 1P brand relationships and superior fulfillment and technology. BlackLedge said Amazon's long-term investment philosophy in massive retail and technology markets is increasingly paying off and should continue to win as it attracts U.S. retail TAM as wall as International e-commerce leadership. Further, he expects Amazon.com's leadership to continue in the fast-growing public cloud market. BlackLedge raised his price target on Amazon shares to $565 from $435.

Analysts down on Apple Watch sales, AFP reportsCertain analysts have said that Apple's new smartwatch is not a mainstream hit due its disappointingly low sales figures, AFP reports. A study from Slice Intelligence suggests that Apple Watch orders have decreased 90% since the week the device made its debut, the report says. In response, BMO Capital Markets said it told investors that they were "disappointed" and reduced their estimate for Apple Watch sales in the upcoming year, the report adds. Richard Windsor at Edison Investment Research said that even if Slice is off the mark about the plunge in Apple Watch orders, it was evident that the wearable has sold way less than even conservative expectations, AFP says. Reference Link